Semi-automatic Rifles vs “Assault Weapons”

By: James Maropoulakis Denney. The term “assault weapons” is a dishonest left-wing term used to propagandize against the 2nd Amendment. There is no such thing as an “AK 14” assault weapon, as I heard someone recently describe a gun. There is also no such thing as an “assault weapon” per se, because any object, an axe, car, knife, or muzzle loading firearm is an assault weapon if it is used to assault someone.

Traditionally, firearms that are “assault weapons” have been defined only as those rifles capable of fully automatic fire, i.e. shooting continuously or in bursts with only ONE pull of the trigger.

There are semi-automatic rifles commonly called AR’s, which stands for the original company, Armalite.(hence the designation “AR”) They are produced by dozens of companies now, and are owned by hundreds of thousands of good Americans. They are used for self-defense and hunting, as well as recreational target shooting and competitive target shooting. There are also semi-automatic rifles commonly called AK’s, modeled after a design invented in Russia, as well as semi-automatics made by Ruger, Browning, Mossberg, and scores of others.

These rifles are semi-automatic, i.e. only capable of firing ONE cartridge with each pull of the trigger. The vast majority of them use cartridges (5.56 mm,.223, or 7.62X39mm Russian) which are LESS powerful than the majority of cartridges used for deer hunting.

Fewer than 2% of all murders in the U.S. are committed with semi-automatic rifles of any type. More people are murdered with knives and axes, than with semi-automatic rifles like AR’s or AK’s.

As for the most important reason as to why we might need them, I’ll let Democrat Senator, former vice-president and Presidential candidate Hubert H Humphrey explain this :

“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to keep and bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved always to be always possible.”

The 2nd Amendment was adopted mainly for this reason: The possibility of a tyrannical government, and maintaining the possibility within the citizenry (the “people”) to repel it. This requires hand and shoulder arms of the same nature as those carried and used by the military. These are exactly what the Founders wanted the citizens to have access to. Indeed, good citizens should also have access to fully automatic rifles such as the M-16 and M-4, but that’s a topic for another article.